This invention relates to an adjusting device for the shoulder strap holding element of a safety belt and includes a rail section and a slide member movable along the rail section and lockable with respect thereto in a number of positions.
In the vast majority of present-day automobiles means for attachment of shoulder strap holding elements of safety belts are provided at fixed points in the side pillars of the automobile. Each point of attachment is chosen so that it is most satisfactory for a driver of average stature. For tall persons the point of attachment is often too low and for small persons too high, so that the safety belt does not extend over the shoulder of the driver but adjacent the neck. This is not only hardly comfortable but even dangerous under certain circumstances.
In order to remove these drawbacks, some types of automobiles have already been provided with manually adjustable adjusting devices for the shoulder strap holding element of a safety belt such device including a rail section and a slide member movable along the rail section and lockable with respect thereto in a small number of positions. One locking position is suitable, e.g., for tall drivers, another for short drivers, and a central position being designed for the driver of average height. Thus a certain improvement over a fixed point of attachment for the shoulder strap holding element has already been effected. If one and the same vehicle is used by more than one driver, it is frequently necessary to manually adjust the point of attachment for the shoulder strap holding element. As a rule it is very difficult to operate the adjusting mechanism, because this is done by the driver from the sitting position by moving the knob of the adjusting mechanism with the right hand over the left shoulder. For the seat beside the driver the same operation has to be performed with the left hand over the right shoulder. In practice, this proves to be a very difficult operation, because not only must the slide member be unlocked, but subsequently a force must be exerted upwards or downwards on the adjusting knob of the adjusting mechanism. Because this operation is difficult, it is often omitted, so that under certain circumstances the safety belt will extend over the body even less comfortably and/or with even greater danger, e.g., because, with small drivers, the shoulder strap holding element is locked in a position for tall drivers, and conversely.